


Four & Five

by thegoddessinzerogravity



Category: Star Wars: Rebels
Genre: Episode: e02e11 The Protector of Concord Dawn, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Minor Injuries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-12
Updated: 2016-09-12
Packaged: 2018-08-14 17:31:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8022847
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thegoddessinzerogravity/pseuds/thegoddessinzerogravity
Summary: Zeb knew that Sabine, despite her cool and levelheaded exterior, often drifted into spirals of guilt and isolation after nasty missions like these. The least he can do is be there for her.





	Four & Five

Sabine was wound tightly as a spring, with her legs crossed over each other, her arms crossed over her stomach and elbows ramrod straight against the wall behind her. Her helmet was off and strapped to her hip, and her eyes closed. Zeb had arrived in front of the door to Hera's room almost fifteen minutes ago, and she hadn't moved, opened her eyes, or acknowledged him since.

"Sabine."

She jerked up at the mention of her name, only to relax when she saw Zeb. He crossed the tiny hallway to stand next to her, and she released some of the tension in her back ever so slightly, slumping against the medbay wall and looking up to meet his eyes. He rubbed the back of his neck and sighed, deciding to just go out and say what had been on his mind for the last fifteen minutes. 

"I know you must've answered this question to a hundred people already. But are you _sure_ you don't have a concrete idea of how bad it is? You were right next to her-"

"I don't _know_ , Zeb! I was in front of her. I made the jump before she did. A lot of the ship debris was in my way, I couldn't- I couldn't see any more than you guys could-" She broke off with a choked noise, spun around and punched the wall behind her.

He seized her wrist and yanked her away from the wall before she could hit it again and risk actually injuring herself. Zeb had had to save Sabine from her own occasional bouts of self-destructiveness before, and it was never pretty. "Sorry for asking."

She miserably covered her face. "It's okay." She slumped against the wall again, and Zeb was left staring at her, feeling helpless to comfort her. He'd seen Hera run her fingers through Kanan's hair a few times when he was upset, but wasn't sure if the gesture had romantic connotations or not. 

He settled for squeezing her shoulder as comfortingly as he could manage, only to feel her seize up and wince. He immediately released her and stared at her with concern. "Are you okay? You were in a firefight too. Did anyone check you over when you got back?"

"No. I didn't want to distract them from helping Hera." With a few practiced movements, she flipped the latch near her elbow and tugged up the section of amour on her wrist and arm. The skin underneath was badly swollen and heavily bruised, and being held at an odd angle. Sabine stared blankly at the arm as if she'd never seen it before, and then started to pull down the amour again.

Zeb swore under his breath, and much more gently this time, caught her good wrist and stopped her. "What happened?" 

She shook her head, evidently in a daze. "I banged my arm on the side of the ship when I came out of hyperspace. I didn't think it was that big a deal." That was it. Filled with shock, grief, and adrenaline, Sabine's injury barely would have registered in her mind.

"Alright, 'Bine. We're getting that checked out."

She attempted to squirm out of his grip, protesting that Hera needed her and "What if she wakes up and I'm not here and then blacks out again before I can see her?", but eventually submitted and let him find a medical droid who wasn't with Hera to look at her arm. 

They quickly found a small mech beeping to itself in the corner, a few hallways away from Hera's room. Zeb figured that it must've been designed for smaller and less fatal injuries, which was why it was all alone and not attending to her. 

"Oi, you. My friend has a broken arm. Or wrist. Can you fix it?"

The droid happily twirled around, stuck out a small sensor and told Sabine to " _please place your injured limb under the sensor. If you are unable to move, please request your companion to place your injured limb under the sensor for you_." The girl started to back up, repeating her protests that it wasn't a big deal, until Zeb glared at her. She reluctantly came forward and stuck out her wrist under the sensor. 

The droid beeped to itself in Binary for a few seconds (Zeb made a mental note to learn Binary at some point), and finally said, " _Sabine Wren, alias Specter Five, has a broken wrist. The break is minor and will not have a permanent affect on physical mobility or mental comprehension. Would you like me to immobilize the limb? It will heal much faster._ "

She nodded mutely, and the droid busied itself with wrapping her lower arm in layers of thin white bandages. When it was done, it cheerfully told her not to operate any heavy machinery or shoot high-frequency blasters for several days. As they were preparing to leave, it chirped " _You currently also have a much higher resting heart rate than is average for humans of your age and BMI, which is often indicative of unusually high levels of stress and anxiety. Would you like me to-_ " Sabine aimed a kick at the droid, and swept out of the room before it finished speaking. 

Zeb was just a few steps behind her when she reached her position by Hera's door again. He leaned up against the wall next to her, and said "See? Nothing changed. You didn't have to worry. We didn't miss anything."

Sabine made an odd noise, and when she turned her face towards him again there were tears sparking in the corners of them. She managed to blurt out " _zebwhatifshe_ dies" before he wrapped both his arms around her and pulled her into a hug. She rested her head on his shoulder and clung tightly to his middle. He could feel her much smaller body shaking with stress and fatigue, and remained still, letting her hold him as tightly as she needed to. He considered telling her to go take a nap, but decided not to. Pushing her to seek medical attention was probably as much as she could handle for right now. When she'd first joined up with the Ghost crew, it had taken some time to train her into actually telling the others when she was injured in a fight, instead of silently retreating to her room to administer first aid in private. 

When she drew away from the hug, her eyes were dry and she seemed marginally more stable. She gave him a weak, halfhearted smile. "I bet you're glad I didn't punch the wall with my bad hand." 

He rolled his eyes at that. "I'd be more glad if you didn't punch walls at all." 

She leaned against his arm and let out a small giggle. "It's a stress release." 

He just sighed and rested his arm around her shoulders, and they both waited in silence for the door to swing open with more news.

**Author's Note:**

> I really like Zeb and Sabine's interactions within the show, and I wish they got more love on AO3.
> 
> I think that fics about other characters panicking about Hera's condition in Protector of Concord Dawn might be a bit overdone at this point, but this is the first SWR fic I'm posting here, so I thought I'd give it a stab.
> 
> Sabine, of course, proceeds to ignore the droid's instructions and puts quite a lot of strain on her wrist, but that's just the kind of person she is.
> 
> Feedback is appreciated!


End file.
